Telling the time (20)

You might remember that when giving the date in Chinese you start from the year, then go to the month and then the day. This background-to-foreground logic also applies to time-telling, where you start from 点 diăn o’clock , then go to 分 fēn minute, then to 秒 miăo second. The other two words that are commonly used for telling the time are 半 bàn half and 刻 kè quarter, as in 十一 点半 shí yī diăn bàn half past eleven (lit. eleven o’clock half ); 十一 点一 刻 shí yī diăn yí kè quarter past eleven (lit. eleven o’clock a quarter ). The word 刻 kè quarter is only used for time, not for other objects. In colloquial Chinese, for 12 hour clock time reading you use the words 上午 shàngwŭ a.m. (lit. up noon ) and 下午 xiàwŭ p.m. (lit. down noon):

上 午 十一 点 一 刻

shàngwŭ shí yī diăn yí kè

Quarter past eleven in the morning (lit. up noon , 11 o’clock , a quarter)

Another irregular feature which should be mentioned here is that two o’clock in Chinese can be either 二 点 èr diăn or 两 点 liáng diăn , although elsewhere it is normally 两 liăng two that is used for describing quantities.

When asking or telling the time, 是 shì to be is not needed:

现 在 几 点 ?

xiànzài jĭ diăn

What time is it ? (lit . now what time)

现 在 五 点

xiànzài wŭ diăn

It’s 5 o’clock . (lit. now 5 o’clock )

The modal particle 了 le , which indicates a change of situation, can be placed at the end of a sentence when expressing present time, as in

几点 了 ?

jĭ diăn le

What time is it now ?

五点 了

wŭdiăn le

It’s 5 o’clock now .

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Assignments.

Write down the following time in Chinese. (20, telling the time)

11:15, 12:06, 6:55, 8:30, 5:42, 7:00, 9:45